20 living bass greats

1 Dave Holland

Fifty-one years since being discovered by Miles Davis, Holland’s global influence cutting across a swathe of post-bop styles remains immense. The beating heart of In a Silent Way. Pick out his work with Kenny Wheeler for later thrills. Still a force to be reckoned with especially on 2018’s UnchartedTerritories and the brand new Good Hope with Zakir Hussain and Chris Potter.

2 Esperanza Spalding Breakthrough bassist/vocalist Spalding has rewritten the rulebook in terms of what a 21st century bassist can do.

3 Marcus MillerFusing jazz, soul, and African music Miller’s sound whether heard as far back as Tutu with Miles Davis, Luther Vandross, or more recently on Laid Black is instantly recognisable.

4 John Patitucci With a solo reputation for leading his own bands and making his own records nonetheless it’s for his role in the Wayne Shorter quartet that has defined the technically accomplished US bassist’s career over many years now.

5 Reid AndersonAs a member of one of the leading small groups in contemporary jazz in The Bad Plus bassist Anderson has an eclectic approach influenced by jazz, rock and classical approaches that appeals to a new generation exploring jazz often for the first time.

6 Larry Grenadier Best known for his work with Brad Mehldau and the Fly trio Grenadier thrives on a riff, his impossibly woody sound cornering tricksy rhythms with consummate ease.

7 Arild AndersenPlaying Cork this autumn. Was part of the history making Triptykon.

8 Ron Carter Elegant and refined, the heir in some ways to Ray Brown, Carter was the bassist in the Miles Davis “second great quintet” fact enough to be included in this list. He is still leading bands to this day, and is a regular visitor to Ronnie Scott’s.

9 Stanley ClarkeHugely influential from Return to Forever and George Duke days and in demand as a movie composer.

10 Cecil McBee The Forest Flower bassist. Need I go on? OK, yep McBee is on the title track of Journey in Satchidananda too.

11 Richard Bona The Cameroonian with the jaw-dropping bass guitar technique and unique vocal style, jazz, African music and a sense of improvisational adventure all roll into one.

12 Reuben Rogers The Charles Lloyd and Joshua Redman bassist has some of the best chops in jazz as at ease with free-jazz as straightahead.

13 Gary PeacockAvant gardist by reputation and also the ultimate standards bassist for many years with Keith Jarrett.

14 Linda May Han OhAdventurous chamber-jazz stylist globally known through touring with Pat Metheny, already with a formidable track record of achievement on her own genre-busting records.

15 Dan BerglundHe reached a huge global fanbase with EST and now leads his own group Tonbruket. Look out for Rymden.

16 Thomas MorganBig toned US bassist known for his work with Tomasz Stańko, he’s a revelation with Jakob Bro.

17 Richard Davis As well known as an educator as for his appearance on some classic records Richard Davis’ big sound has decorated albums as influential in very different ways as Astral Weeks and Out to Lunch.

20 Henry GrimesAvant god. Ayler, Cecil Taylor, another time, another place. Lost now found.

Driving hard: Kendrick Scott debuts for Concord

With a UK release now confirmed for May although it’s released in the States this week Kendrick Scott and his band Oracle’s album Conviction, the drummer’s 11-track debut for Concord, follows on from the huge promise shown by The Source, Scott’s debut as a leader, released six years ago. But just in the autumn at Ronnie Scott’s club in London Scott, no stranger to homegrown audiences, was on storming form as the band shot into Eddie Cleanhead Vinson’s ‘Four’ with some fleetness of foot just days after President Obama was re-elected, the choice of tune title appropriate. Scott was Blakey-fast and driving hard, alongside young bass sensation Joshua “Smiler” Crumbly who himself was moving like a young Jimmy Blanton to his side. “Stoked” as he had put it before the gig and clearly up for it Scott displayed great mallet touch as the set developed, and he found the sweet part of the cymbal time and again.

Tracks on Conviction are Broadcast’s ‘Pendulum’; Sufjan Stevens’ ‘Too Much’ with a vocal by Alan Hampton who Glasper fans would have witnessed live guesting at the iTunes fest last year; Herbie Hancock’s ‘I Have a Dream’; solo bass track ‘We Shall By Any Means’; ‘Liberty or Death’; ‘Cycling Through Reality’; ‘Conviction’; ‘Apollo’; ‘Serenity’; ‘Be Water’ with a unusal monologue by that well known jazzer, martial arts master Bruce Lee; and solo piano piece ‘Memory of Enchantment’.

Scott, best known for his work in Terence Blanchard’s band, is joined in Oracle by a mostly new line-up with saxophonist and bass clarinettist John Ellis, guitarist Mike Moreno (the only band member here featured on The Source), hotshot pianist the still developing Taylor Eigsti, and bassist Joe Sanders, with Alan Hampton on two tracks in all. Co-produced by The Experiment’s Derrick Hodge, expected himself to debut for Blue Note records later this year, Hodge also wrote the title track ‘Conviction’. Scott, who’s 32 and comes from Houston where he attended the famed High School for the Performing and Visual Arts where both Robert Glasper and Jason Moran studied, and later Berklee in Boston, the drummer appeared on Terence Blanchard’s albums A Tale of God’s Will, and Flow, on which Scott’s tune ‘The Source’ features Herbie Hancock, who picked up a Grammy nomination for his solo. The song then gave its name to Scott’s own first album as a leader. New York-based for approaching a decade Scott besides Blanchard has also toured heavily with Herbie, John Scofield, and Wayne Shorter, as well as Pat Metheny and Christian McBride. Look out for an early review of Conviction in these pages soon. MB